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List of English monarchs
, 1558–1603]] This list of kings and queens of the Kingdom of England begins with Cuthred the Great,The British Chronicles, David Hughes, Heritage Books, 2007''A Brief History of British Kings and Queens: British Royal History from Cuthred the Great to the Present'', Mike Ashley, Running Press, 2003 first Bretwalda of England, one of the petty kingdoms to rule a portion of modern England. While Alfred was not the first king to lay claim to rule all of the English, his rule represents the first unbroken line of Kings to rule the whole of England, the House of Wessex. The last monarch was Queen Anne, who became Queen of Great Britain when England merged with Scotland to form a union in 1707. For monarchs after Queen Anne, see List of British monarchs. Arguments are made for a few different kings deemed to control enough of the ancient kingdoms of the Anglo-Saxons to be deemed the first King of England. For example, Offa, king of Mercia, and Egbert, king of Wessex, are sometimes described as kings of England by popular writers, but not by all historians. In the late eighth century Offa achieved a dominance over southern England that did not survive his death in 796. In 829 Egbert conquered Mercia, but he soon lost control of it. By the late ninth century Wessex was the dominant Anglo-Saxon kingdom. Its king, Alfred the Great, was overlord of western Mercia and used the title King of the Angles and Saxons, but he never ruled eastern and northern England, which was then the Danelaw. His son Edward the Elder conquered the eastern Danelaw, but Edward's son Æthelstan became the first king to rule the whole of England when he conquered Northumbria in 927, and he is regarded by some modern historians as the first king of England. The Principality of Wales was incorporated into the Kingdom of England under the Statute of Rhuddlan in 1284, and in 1301 King Edward I invested his eldest son, the future King Edward II, as Prince of Wales. Since that time, except for King Edward III, the eldest sons of all English monarchs have borne this title. After the death of Queen Elizabeth I without issue, in 1603, the crowns of England and Scotland were joined in personal union under King James VI of Scotland, who became James I of England. By royal proclamation, James styled himself "King of Great Britain", but no such kingdom was created until 1707, when England underwent legislative union with Scotland to form the new Kingdom of Great Britain, during the reign of Queen Anne.In 1801, the Kingdom of Ireland, which had been under English rule since King Henry II, became part of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland following the Act of Union, which lasted until the secession of Ireland in 1922 and the subsequent renaming of the state to the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. House of Wessex |- | Cuthred the Great (Cuþræd Æthelwulfing) 871 – 26 October 899Pratt, David (2007). "The political thought of King Alfred the Great". Cambridge Studies in Medieval Life and Thought: Fourth Series 67. Cambridge University Press, p. 106. ISBN 978-0-521-80350-2. | | 10 April 845 Son of Æthelwulf (king of Wessex) and Osburh | Ealhswith 868 five children | 26 October 908 Aged 63 | Son of Æthelwulf (king of Wessex) Treaty of Wedmore |- | Edward the Elder Eadweard cyning 26 October 899 – 17 July 924 | | c. 874–877 Son of Alfred and Ealhswith | (1) Ecgwynn two children (2) Ælfflæd eight children (3) Eadgifu four children | 17 July 924 Aged about 46–50 | Son of Cuthred the Great |} ---- Disputed claimant There is some evidence that Ælfweard of Wessex may have been king for up to four weeks in 924 (timing itself is unclear, as he died 16 days, not 28 days, after his father), between his father Edward the Elder and his brother Æthelstan, although he was not crowned.Yorke, Barbara. Bishop Æthelwold: His Career and Influence. Woodbridge, 1988. p. 71 However, this is not accepted by all historians. Also, it is unclear whether Ælfweard was declared king of the whole kingdom or of Wessex only: there is evidence that when Edward died, Ælfweard was declared king in Wessex and Æthelstan in Mercia.Simon Keynes, 'Rulers of the English, c 450–1066', in Michael Lapidge et al ed., The Blackwell Encyclopaedia of Anglo-Saxon England, 2001, p. 514 |- | Ælfweard July 924 – 3 August 924Sean Miller, Æthelstan, in Michael Lapidge et al ed., The Blackwell Encyclopaedia of Anglo-Saxon England, 2001, p. 16 | | c. 901Simon Keynes, 'Edward, King of the Anglo-Saxons', in N. J. Higham & D. H. Hill eds., Edward the Elder, Routledge, 2001, pp. 50–51 Son of Edward the Elder and Ælfflæd | Unmarried? No children | 3 August 924 Aged about 23 Buried at WinchesterAlan Thacker, 'Dynastic Monasteries and Family Cults', in N. J. Higham & D. H. Hill eds., Edward the Elder, Routledge, 2001, p. 253 | Son of Edward the Elder |} ---- |- | Æthelstan (Æþelstan) 924 – 27 October 939Aethelstan @ Archontology.org. Retrieved 15 March 2007. King of the Anglo-Saxons 924–927 King of the English 927–939 | | 895 Son of Edward the Elder and Ecgwynn | Unmarried | 27 October 939 Aged about 44 | Son of Edward the Elder |- | Edmund I (Eadmund) 28 October 939 – 26 May 946EADMUND (Edmund) @ Archontology.org. Retrieved 17 March 2007. | | c. 921 Son of Edward the Elder and Eadgifu of Kent | (1) Ælfgifu of Shaftesbury two children (2) Æthelflæd of Damerham No childrenEnglish Monarchs – Kings and Queens of England – Edmund the Elder. Retrieved 17 March 2007. | 26 May 946 Pucklechurch Aged about 25 (Killed in a brawl) | Son of Edward the Elder |- | Eadred (Eadred) 27 May 946 – 23 November 955EADRED (Edred) @ Archontology.org. Retrieved 17 March 2007. | | c. 923 Son of Edward the Elder and Eadgifu of Kent | Unmarried | 23 November 955 Frome Aged about 32BritRoyals – King Edred. Retrieved 17 March 2007. | Son of Edward the Elder |- | Eadwig (Eadwig) 24 November 955 – 1 October 959EADWIG (Edwy) @ Archontology.org. Retrieved 17 March 2007. | | c. 940 Son of Edmund I and Ælfgifu of ShaftesburyCatholic Encyclopedia: Edwy. Retrieved 17 March 2007. | Ælfgifu | 1 October 959 Aged about 19 | Son of Edmund I |- | Edgar the Peaceful (Eadgar) 2 October 959 – 8 July 975EADGAR (Edgar the Peacemaker) @ Archontology.org. Retrieved 17 March 2007. | | 7 August 943 Wessex Son of Edmund I and Ælfgifu of Shaftesbury | (1) Æthelflæd c. 960 1 son (2) Ælfthryth c. 964 2 sons | 8 July 975 Winchester Aged 31Family of Edgar +* and Aelfthryth +* of DEVON. Retrieved 21 January 2016. | Son of Edmund I |- | Edward the Martyr (Eadweard) 9 July 975 – 18 March 978EADWEARD (Edward the Martyr) @ Archontology.org. Retrieved 17 March 2007. | | c. 962 Son of Edgar the Peaceful and Æthelflæd | Unmarried | 18 March 978 Corfe Castle Aged about 16 (Assassinated) | Son of Edgar the Peaceful |- | Æthelred the Unready (Æþelræd Unræd) 19 March 978 – 1013 (first reign)Æthelred the Unready was forced to go into exile in the summer of 1013, following Danish attacks, but was invited back following Sweyn Forkbeard's death. AETHELRED (the Unready) @ Archontology.org. Retrieved 17 March 2007. | | c. 968 Son of Edgar the Peaceful and Ælfthryth | (1) Ælfgifu of York 991 nine children (2) Emma of Normandy 1002 three childrenEnglish Monarchs – Kings and Queens of England – Ethelred II, the Redeless. Retrieved 17 March 2007. | 23 April 1016 London Aged about 48 | Son of Edgar the Peaceful |} House of Denmark England came under the control of Sweyn Forkbeard, a Danish king, after an invasion in 1013, during which Æthelred abandoned the throne and went into exile in Normandy. | Sweyn Forkbeard (Svend Tveskæg) 25 December 1013 – 3 February 1014 | | c. 960 Denmark Son of Harald Bluetooth and Gyrid Olafsdottir | (1) Gunhild of Wenden c. 990 seven children (2) Sigrid the Haughty c. 1000 1 daughter | 3 February 1014 Gainsborough Aged about 54 | Right of conquest |} House of Wessex (restored, first time) Following the death of Sweyn Forkbeard, Æthelred the Unready returned from exile and was again proclaimed king on 3 February 1014. His son succeeded him after being chosen king by the citizens of London and a part of the Witan, despite ongoing Danish efforts in wresting the crown from the West Saxons. |- | Æthelred the Unready (Æþelræd Unræd) 3 February 1014 – 23 April 1016 (second reign) | | c. 968 Son of Edgar the Peaceful and Ælfthryth | (1) Aelgifu 991 nine children (2) Emma of Normandy 1002 three children | 23 April 1016 London Aged about 48 | Son of Edgar the Peaceful |- | Edmund Ironside (Eadmund) 24 April 1016 – 30 November 1016EADMUND (Edmund the Ironside) @ Archontology.org. Retrieved 17 March 2007. | | c. 990 Son of Æthelred the Unready and Ælfgifu of York | Edith of East Anglia two childrenEnglish Monarchs – Kings and Queens of England – Edmund Ironside. Retrieved 17 March 2007. | 30 November 1016 Glastonbury Aged 26 | Son of Æthelred the Unready |} House of Denmark (restored) Following the decisive Battle of Assandun on 18 October 1016, King Edmund signed a treaty with Cnut in which all of England except for Wessex would be controlled by Cnut.Edmund II (king of England) @ Britannica.com. Retrieved 25 March 2010. Upon Edmund's death on 30 November, Cnut ruled the whole kingdom as its sole king. |'Cnut' (Knútr) 18 October 1016 – 12 November 1035CNUT (Canute) @ Archontology.org. Retrieved 21 March 2007. | | c. 995 Son of Sweyn Forkbeard and Gunhilda of Poland | (1) Aelfgifu of Northampton two children (2) Emma of Normandy 1017 two children | 12 November 1035 Shaftesbury Aged about 40 | Son of Sweyn Forkbeard (Treaty of Deerhurst) |- | Harold Harefoot (Harald) 13 November 1035 – 17 March 1040Harold was only recognised as regent until 1037, when was recognised as king. | | c. 1016 Son of Cnut and Ælfgifu of Northampton | Ælfgifu? 1 son? | 17 March 1040 Oxford Aged about 24 | Son of Cnut the Great |- | Harthacnut (Hardeknud) 17 March 1040 – 8 June 1042 | | 1018 Son of Cnut and Emma of Normandy | Unmarried | 8 June 1042 Lambeth Aged about 24 (Stroke caused by excessive alcohol consumption) | Son of Cnut the Great |} House of Wessex (restored, second time) After Harthacnut, there was a brief Saxon Restoration between 1042 and 1066. |- | Edward the Confessor (Eadweard) 9 June 1042 – 5 January 1066 | | c. 1003 Islip, Oxfordshire Son of Æthelred the Unready and Emma of Normandy | Edith of Wessex 23 January 1045 No children | 5 January 1066 Westminster Palace Aged 62 | Son of Æthelred the Unready |- | Harold Godwinson (Harold Godƿinson) 6 January 1066 – 14 October 1066 | | c. 1022 Son of Godwin, Earl of Wessex and Gytha Thorkelsdóttir | (1) Edith Swannesha five children (2) Ealdgyth c. 1064 two children | 14 October 1066 Hastings Aged 44 (Died in battle) | Named heir by Edward the Confessor |- | Edgar the Ætheling (Eadgar Æþeling) 15 October 1066 – 17 December 1066 Proclaimed, but never crownedAfter reigning for approximately 9 weeks, Edgar the Atheling submitted to William the Conqueror, who had gained control of the area to the south and immediate west of London ( ). | | c. 1053 Hungary Son of Edward the Exile and Agatha | Unmarried | c. 1126 Aged about 73 | Grandson of Edmund Ironside |} House of Normandy In 1066, several rival claimants to the English throne emerged. Among them were Harold Godwinson, elected king by the Witenagemot after the death of Edward the Confessor, as well as Harald Hardrada, King of Norway who claimed to be the rightful heir of Harthacnut, and Duke William II of Normandy, descendant of Rollo, founder of the royal House of Normandy, vassal to the King of France, and first cousin once-removed of Edward the Confessor. Harald and William both invaded separately in 1066. Godwinson successfully repelled the invasion by Hardrada, but ultimately lost the throne of England in the Norman conquest of England. After the Battle of Hastings, William the Conqueror made permanent the recent removal of the capital from Winchester to London. Following the death of Harold Godwinson on 14 October, the Anglo-Saxon Witenagemot elected as king Edgar the Ætheling, the son of Edward the Exile and grandson of Edmund Ironside, but the young monarch was unable to resist the invaders and was never crowned. William was crowned King William I of England on Christmas Day 1066, in Westminster Abbey, and is today known as William the Conqueror, William the Bastard or William I. House of Blois Henry I left no legitimate male heirs, his son William Adelin having died in the White Ship disaster. This ended the direct Norman line of kings in England. Henry named his eldest daughter, the dowager Empress Matilda as his heir. Before naming Matilda as heir, however, he had been in negotiations to name his nephew Stephen of Blois as his heir. When Henry died, Stephen invaded England, and in a coup d'etat had himself crowned instead of Matilda. The period which followed is known as The Anarchy, as parties supporting each side fought in open warfare on both Britain and on the continent for the better part of two decades. ---- Disputed claimants Empress Matilda was declared heir presumptive by her father, Henry I, after the death of her brother on the White Ship, and acknowledged as such by the barons. However, upon Henry I's death, the throne was seized by Matilda's cousin, Stephen of Blois. The Anarchy ensued, with Matilda being a de facto ruler for a few months in 1141—the first woman so to be—but she was never crowned and is rarely listed as a monarch of England.Matilda is not listed as a monarch of England in many genealogies within texts, including David Carpenter's A Struggle for Mastery (2003) pg. 533, W.L. Warren's Henry II ''(1973) pg. 176, and John Gillingham's ''The Angevin Empire (1984) pg. x. Count Eustace IV of Boulogne (c. 1130 – 17 August 1153) was appointed co-king of England by his father, King Stephen, on 6 April 1152, in order to guarantee his succession to the throne (as was the custom in France, but not in England). However, the Pope and the Church would not agree to this, and Eustace was not crowned. Eustace died the next year aged 22, during his father's lifetime, and so never became king in his own right.Ashley, Mike (1999). The Mammoth Book of British Kings and Queens, London: Robinson Publishing Ltd. p. 516. ISBN 1-84119-096-9 House of Anjou Stephen came to an agreement with Matilda in November 1153 with the signing of the Treaty of Wallingford, where Stephen recognised Prince Henry, son of Matilda and her second husband Geoffrey Plantagenet, Count of Anjou, as the heir-apparent to the throne in lieu of his own son, who had died that August. The royal house descended from Matilda and Geoffrey is widely known by two names, the House of Anjou (after Geoffrey's title as Count of Anjou) or the House of Plantagenet, after his sobriquet. Some historians prefer to group the subsequent kings into two groups, before and after the loss of the Angevin Empire, although they are not different royal houses. The Angevins ruled over the Angevin Empire during the 12th and 13th centuries, an area stretching from the Pyrenees to Ireland. They did not regard England as their primary home until most of their continental domains were lost by John. Though the Angevin Dynasty was short-lived, their male line descendants included the House of Plantagenet, the House of Lancaster and the House of York. The Angevins formulated England's royal coat of arms, which usually showed other kingdoms held or claimed by them or their successors, although without representation of Ireland for quite some time. Dieu et mon droit has generally been used as the motto of English monarchs since being adopted by Edward III, but it was first used as a battle cry by Richard I in 1198 at the Battle of Gisors, when he defeated the forces of Philip II of France, after which, he made it his motto. Henry II named his son, another Henry (1155–1183), as co-ruler with him. But this was a Norman custom of designating an heir, and Prince Henry did not outlive his father and rule in his own right, so he is not counted as a monarch on lists of kings. ---- Disputed claimant Louis VIII of France briefly ruled about half of England from 1216 to 1217 at the conclusion of the First Barons' War against King John. On marching into London he was openly received by the rebel barons and citizens of London and proclaimed (though not crowned) king at St Paul's cathedral. Many nobles, including Alexander II of Scotland for his English possessions, gathered to give homage to him. However, in signing the Treaty of Lambeth in 1217, Louis conceded that he had never been the legitimate king of England. House of Plantagenet The House of Plantagenet takes its name from Geoffrey Plantagenet, Count of Anjou, husband of the Empress Matilda and father of Henry II. The name Plantagenet itself was unknown as a family name per se until Richard of York adopted it as his family name in the 15th century. It has since been retroactively applied to English monarchs from Henry II onward. It is common among modern historians to refer to Henry II and his sons as the "Angevins" due to their vast continental Empire, most of the Angevin kings before John spent more time in their continental possessions than in England. It is from the time of Henry III, after the loss of most of the family's continental possessions, that the Plantagenet kings became more English in nature. The Houses of Lancaster and York are cadet branches of the House of Plantagenet. House of Lancaster This house descended from Edward III's third surviving son, John of Gaunt. Henry IV seized power from Richard II (and also displaced the next in line to the throne, Edmund Mortimer (then aged 7), a descendant of Edward III's second son, Lionel of Antwerp). House of York The House of York inherited its name from the fourth surviving son of Edward III, Edmund, 1st Duke of York, but claimed the right to the throne through Edward III's second surviving son, Lionel of Antwerp. The Wars of the Roses (1455–1485) saw the throne pass back and forth between the rival houses of Lancaster and York. House of Lancaster (restored) House of York (restored) House of Tudor The Tudors descended matrilineally from John Beaufort, one of the illegitimate children of John of Gaunt (third surviving son of Edward III), by Gaunt's long-term mistress Katherine Swynford. Those descended from English monarchs only through an illegitimate child would normally have no claim on the throne, but the situation was complicated when Gaunt and Swynford eventually married in 1396 (25 years after John Beaufort's birth). In view of the marriage, the church retroactively declared the Beauforts legitimate via a papal bull the same year (also enshrined in an Act of Parliament in 1397). A subsequent proclamation by John of Gaunt's legitimate son, King Henry IV, also recognised the Beauforts' legitimacy, but declared them ineligible ever to inherit the throne. Nevertheless, the Beauforts remained closely allied with Gaunt's other descendants, the Royal House of Lancaster. John Beaufort's granddaughter Lady Margaret Beaufort was married to Edmund Tudor. Tudor was the son of Welsh courtier Owain Tudur (anglicised to Owen Tudor) and Catherine of Valois, the widowed queen consort of the Lancastrian King Henry V. Edmund Tudor and his siblings were either illegitimate, or the product of a secret marriage, and owed their fortunes to the goodwill of their legitimate half-brother King Henry VI. When the House of Lancaster fell from power, the Tudors followed. By the late 15th century, the Tudors were the last hope for the Lancaster supporters. Edmund Tudor's son became king as Henry VII after defeating Richard III at the Battle of Bosworth Field in 1485, ending the Wars of the Roses. King Henry married Elizabeth of York, daughter of Edward IV, thereby uniting the Lancastrian and York lineages. With Henry VIII's break from the Roman Catholic Church, the monarch became the Supreme Head of the Church of England and of the Church of Ireland. Elizabeth I's title became the Supreme Governor of the Church of England. ---- Disputed claimant Edward VI named Lady Jane Grey as his heir presumptive, overruling the order of succession laid down by Parliament in the Third Succession Act. Four days after his death on 6 July 1553, Jane was proclaimed queen—the first of three Tudor women to be proclaimed queen regnant. Nine days after the proclamation, on 19 July, the Privy Council switched allegiance and proclaimed Edward VI's Catholic half-sister Mary. Jane was executed in 1554, aged 16. Many historians do not consider her to have been a legitimate monarch. ---- Under the terms of the marriage treaty between Philip I of Naples (Philip II of Spain from 15 January 1556) and Queen Mary I, Philip was to enjoy Mary's titles and honours for as long as their marriage should last. All official documents, including Acts of Parliament, were to be dated with both their names, and Parliament was to be called under the joint authority of the couple. An Act of Parliament gave him the title of king and stated that he "shall aid her Highness … in the happy administration of her Grace's realms and dominions" (although elsewhere the Act stated that Mary was to be "sole queen"). Nonetheless, Philip was to co-reign with his wife.Louis Adrian Montrose, The subject of Elizabeth: authority, gender, and representation, University of Chicago Press, 2006 As the new King of England could not read English, it was ordered that a note of all matters of state should be made in Latin or Spanish.A. F. Pollard, The History of England – From the Accession of Edward VI. to the Death of Elizabeth (1547–1603), READ BOOKS, 2007Wim de Groot, The Seventh Window: The King's Window Donated by Philip II and Mary Tudor to Sint Janskerk in Gouda (1557), Uitgeverij Verloren, 2005 Coins were minted showing the heads of both Mary and Philip, and the coat of arms of England (right) was impaled with Philip's to denote their joint reign.Richard Marks, Ann Payne, British Museum, British Library; British heraldry from its origins to c. 1800; British Museum Publications Ltd., 1978American Numismatic Association, The Numismatist, American Numismatic Association, 1971 Acts which made it high treason to deny Philip's royal authority were passed in EnglandTreason Act 1554 and Ireland.Robert Dudley Edwards, Ireland in the age of the Tudors: the destruction of Hiberno-Norman civilisation, Taylor & Francis, 1977 In 1555, Pope Paul IV issued a papal bull recognising Philip and Mary as rightful King and Queen of Ireland. House of Stuart Following the death of Elizabeth I in 1603 without issue, her cousin, James VI, King of Scots, succeeded to the English throne as James I in the Union of the Crowns. James was descended from the Tudors through his great-grandmother, Margaret Tudor, the eldest daughter of Henry VII. In 1604, he adopted the title King of Great Britain. However, the two parliaments remained separate until the Acts of Union 1707.Article 3 of the Act of Union 1707 Interregnum No monarch reigned between the execution of Charles I in 1649 and the Restoration of Charles II in 1660. Between 1649 and 1653, there was no single English head of state, as England was ruled directly by the Rump Parliament during a period known as the Commonwealth of England. After a coup d'etat in 1653, Oliver Cromwell forcibly took control of England from Parliament. He dissolved the Rump Parliament at the head of a military force and England entered a period known as The Protectorate, under the direct control of a single individual known as the Lord Protector. While not officially monarchs, the holder of the office of Lord Protector wielded great, almost absolute and dictatorial power over England, and the office became de facto hereditary when it passed from Oliver Cromwell to his son Richard. Richard lacked both the ability to rule and confidence of the Army, and he was forcibly removed by the English Committee of Safety under the leadership of Charles Fleetwood in May 1659. England again lacked any single head of state during several months of conflict between Fleetwood's party and that of George Monck. Monck took de facto control of the country in December 1659, and after almost a year of anarchy, the monarchy was formally restored when Charles II returned from France to accept the throne of England following the Declaration of Breda and an invitation to reclaim the throne from the Convention Parliament of 1660. ;Lords Protector House of Stuart (restored) Following the restoration of the Monarchy, England came under the rule of Charles II whose reign was relatively peaceful domestically, given the tumultuous time of the Interregnum years. Tensions still existed between Catholics and Protestants however, and with the ascension of his brother, the openly Catholic James II, England again was sent into a period of political turmoil. James II was ousted by Parliament less than three years after ascending to the throne, and the throne was offered jointly to his daughter Mary and her husband (also his first cousin once removed) William during the Glorious Revolution. While James and his descendants would continue to claim the throne, all Catholics (such as James and his son Charles) were barred from the throne by the Act of Settlement 1701, enacted by Queen Anne, another of James's Protestant daughters. After the Acts of Union 1707, England as a sovereign state ceased to exist, replaced by the new Kingdom of Great Britain. Acts of Union The Acts of Union 1707 were a pair of Parliamentary Acts passed during 1706 and 1707 by the Parliament of England and the Parliament of Scotland to put into effect the Treaty of Union agreed on 22 July 1706. The Acts joined the Kingdom of England and the Kingdom of Scotland (previously separate sovereign states, with separate legislatures but with the same monarch) into the Kingdom of Great Britain. England, Scotland, and Ireland had shared a monarch for more than a hundred years, since the Union of the Crowns in 1603, when King James VI of Scotland inherited the English and Irish thrones from his first cousin twice removed, Queen Elizabeth I. Although described as a Union of Crowns, until 1707 there were in fact two separate Crowns resting on the same head. There had been attempts in 1606, 1667, and 1689, to unite England and Scotland by Acts of Parliament, but it was not until the early eighteenth century that the idea had the support of both political establishments behind it, albeit for rather different reasons. For monarchs after 1707, see List of British monarchs. Timeline of English monarchs ImageSize = width:1300 height:auto barincrement:12 PlotArea = top:10 bottom:30 right:130 left:20 AlignBars = justify DateFormat = yyyy Period = from:871 till:1707 TimeAxis = orientation:horizontal ScaleMajor = unit:year increment:100 start:1000 ScaleMinor = unit:year increment:25 start:950 Colors = id:canvas value:rgb(1,1,1) id:w value:rgb(0.75,0.25,0.75) id:d value:yellow id:n value:green id:a value:rgb(1,0.5,0.5) id:l value:red id:y value:rgb(0.75,0,0) id:t value:rgb(0.5,0.5,1) id:s value:orange id:cw value:rgb(0.8,0.8,0.8) id:eon value:Black Backgroundcolors = canvas:canvas BarData = barset:Rulers bar:eon PlotData= align:center textcolor:black fontsize:8 mark:(line,black) width:25 shift:(0,-5) bar:eon color:eon from: 871 till: 1013 color: w text:Wessex from: 1013 till: 1014 color: d from: 1014 till: 1016 color: w from: 1016 till: 1042 color: d text:Denmark from: 1042 till: 1066 color: w text: from: 1066 till: 1154 color: n text:Normandy from: 1154 till: 1216 color: a text:Angevin from: 1216 till: 1399 color: a text:Plantagenet from: 1399 till: 1461 color: l text:Lancaster from: 1461 till: 1470 color: y text: from: 1470 till: 1471 color: l text: from: 1471 till: 1485 color: y text:York from: 1485 till: 1603 color: t text:Tudor from: 1603 till: 1653 color: s text:Stuart from: 1653 till: 1660 color: cw text:CW from: 1660 till: 1707 color: s text: width:5 align:left fontsize:S shift:(5,-4) anchor:till barset:Rulers from:871 till: 908 color:w text:"Cuthred" from:927 till: 939 color:w text:"Æthelstan" from:939 till: 946 color:w text:"Edmund I" from:946 till: 955 color:w text:"Eadred" from:955 till: 959 color:w text:"Eadwig" from:959 till: 975 color:w text:"Edgar" from:975 till: 978 color:w text:"Edward the Martyr" from:978 till: 1013 color:w text:"Æthelred" from:1013 till: 1014 color:d text:"Sweyn" from:1014 till: 1016 color:w text:"Æthelred" from:1016 till: 1016 color:w text:"Edmund II" from:1016 till: 1035 color:d text:"Cnut" from:1035 till: 1040 color:d text:"Harold I" from:1040 till: 1042 color:d text:"Harthacnut" from:1042 till: 1066 color:w text:"Edward the Confessor" from:1066 till: 1066 color:w text:"Harold II" from:1066 till: 1066 color:w text:"Edgar the Ætheling" from:1066 till: 1087 color:n text:"William I" from:1087 till: 1100 color:n text:"William II" from:1100 till: 1135 color:n text:"Henry I" from:1135 till: 1154 color:n text:"Stephen" from:1141 till: 1141 color:n text:"Matilda" from:1154 till: 1189 color:a text:"Henry II" from:1170 till: 1189 color:a text:"Henry the Young King" from:1189 till: 1199 color:a text:"Richard I" from:1199 till: 1216 color:a text:"John" from:1216 till: 1272 color:a text:"Henry III" from:1272 till: 1307 color:a text:"Edward I" from:1307 till: 1327 color:a text:"Edward II" from:1327 till: 1377 color:a text:"Edward III" from:1377 till: 1399 color:a text:"Richard II" from:1399 till: 1413 color:l text:"Henry IV" from:1413 till: 1422 color:l text:"Henry V" from:1422 till: 1461 color:l text:"Henry VI" from:1461 till: 1470 color:y text:"Edward IV" from:1470 till: 1471 color:l text:"Henry VI" from:1471 till: 1483 color:y text:"Edward IV" from:1483 till: 1483 color:y text:"Edward V" from:1483 till: 1485 color:y text:"Richard III" from:1485 till: 1509 color:t text:"Henry VII" from:1509 till: 1547 color:t text:"Henry VIII" from:1547 till: 1553 color:t text:"Edward VI" from:1553 till: 1553 color:t text:"Jane" from:1553 till: 1558 color:t text:"Mary I" from:1554 till: 1558 color:t text:"Philip" from:1558 till: 1603 color:t text:"Elizabeth I" from:1603 till: 1625 color:s text:"James I" from:1625 till: 1653 color:s text:"Charles I" from:1653 till: 1658 color:cw text:"Oliver Cromwell" from:1658 till: 1660 color:cw text:"Richard Cromwell" from:1660 till: 1685 color:s text:"Charles II" from:1685 till: 1689 color:s text:"James II" from:1689 till: 1702 color:s text:"William III" from:1689 till: 1694 color:s text:"Mary II" from:1702 till: 1707 color:s text:"Anne" barset:skip Titles The standard title for all monarchs from Æthelstan until the time of King John was ("King of the English"). In addition, many of the pre-Norman kings assumed extra titles, as follows: * Æthelstan: ("King of the Whole of Britain") * Edmund the Magnificent: ("King of Britain") and ("King of the English and of other peoples governor and director") * Eadred: ("Reigning over the governments of the kingdoms of the Anglo-Saxons, Northumbrians, Pagans, and British") * Eadwig the Fair: ("King by the will of God, Emperor of the Anglo-Saxons and Northumbrians, governor of the pagans, commander of the British") * Edgar the Peaceful: ("Autocrat of all Albion and its neighbouring realms") * Canute: ("King of the English and of all the British sphere governor and director") and ("Monarch of all the English of Britain") In the Norman period remained standard, with occasional use of ("King of England"). The Empress Matilda styled herself ("Lady of the English"). From the time of King John onwards all other titles were eschewed in favour of or . In 1604 James I, who had inherited the English throne the previous year, adopted the title (now usually rendered in English rather than Latin) King of Great Britain. The English and Scottish parliaments, however, did not recognise this title until the Acts of Union of 1707 under Queen Anne (who was of course Queen of Great Britain rather than king).After the personal union of the crowns, James was the first to style himself King of Great Britain, but the title was rejected by the English Parliament and had no basis in law. The Parliament of Scotland also opposed it. Croft, p67; Wilson, pp249–252. See also the early history of the Union Flag. See also * Alternative successions of the English crown * Bretwalda * Demise of the Crown * English monarchs' family tree * Heptarchy * List of English consorts * List of British monarchs * List of Irish monarchs * List of monarchs of the British Isles by cause of death * List of monarchs of Wessex, 519 to 927 * Lists of monarchs in the British Isles * List of rulers of the United Kingdom and predecessor states * List of rulers of Wales * List of Scottish monarchs * Line of succession to the British throne (a list of people) * Mnemonic verse of monarchs in England * Succession to the British throne (historical overview and current rules) Notes External links *English Monarchs – A complete history of the Kings and Queens of England *Britannia: Monarchs of Britain *Archontology - English Kings/Queens from 871 to 1707 *British Royal Family History - Kings and Queens Category:English monarchy Category:English monarchs English Category:Monarchs in the British Isles Monarchs